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- TechCrunch Japan's Tokyo Camp: 12 Startups Demo Their Wares
- Free the H-1Bs, Free the Economy
- The Countdown to TechCrunch50 is on!
| TechCrunch Japan's Tokyo Camp: 12 Startups Demo Their Wares | Top |
| Following last week’s startup contest WISH 2009 , Japan just got another event that gave twelve selected tech companies the chance to demo their web services, apps and tools (almost all of which are thankfully available in English). This Friday, around 130 guests attended Tokyo Camp [JP], a demo event organized by TechCrunch Japan . The occasion: The blog, which is one of Japan’s biggest and mainly translates articles from TechCrunch into Japanese, is under new management (by a Tokyo-based company called Sociomedia , Japan’s anwer to Adaptive Path ). Here are my thumbnail sketches of all of the twelve demos I saw at Tokyo Camp. I’vRead by Akky Akimoto Officially launched at Tokyo Camp, I’vRead keeps a record of all books you've read via your Twitter account and lets you find users with a similar taste in books. All you need to do is to type the title of the book (or its ISBN or Amazon URL), add " @ivread " to the tweet and (as an option) write what you thought of it. Each of these tweets will then be automatically added to your personal user page on the I’vRead site (you don’t need to register at the site itself, being a Twitter user is enough). Look here for an example. dango dango wants to empower online game creators worldwide to focus more on the development of content and less on the things they have to deal with after a game is finished, especially the distribution problem. The company of the same name offers a comprehensive, integrated framework called "dango-PLAY" . The system delivers online games to a number of social networks (i.e. Facebook or Japan’s Mixi) and dango’s homepage itself, using a single program and source code (dango is open source [JP]). dango-Play aims at creating an integrated ecosystem for online games by matching users, linking to other games based on the framework, providing SMS services, managing user ID data, freeing developers from tracking user behavior etc. etc. One of the first games that’s been released based on the dango system is Facebook app “meromero park” , an ultra-cute mix between a social network, a virtual world and a pet-rearing game (the web version has already gained massive popularity in Japan and Taiwan ). The Facebook app is available in English and French. Jin-Magic TCP Traffic Optimization Technology by Akira Jinzaki Former Fujitsu employee Akira Jinzaki has single-handedly programmed what appears to be a powerful TCP traffic controller with the potential to change the way Internet traffic is currently being managed (99% of the Internet traffic is TCP-based). Jinzaki says his Jin-Magic software throttles and smoothes bandwith in a cost-effective way, making it possible for providers to service at least 2 to 3 times more customers with the existing infrastructure. Jin-Magic can be ported to smartphones, too. PeKay’s Little Author PeKay’s Little Author is a Facebook application that lets users create a graphic story using original characters on-screen and print it out in the form of a picture storybook. Alternatively, the virtual storybook ( example ) can be shared with others online or turned into a web greeting card. PeKay’s Little Author is the brainchild of a well-known Japanese artist. The video below shows how the app works: IxEdit by Sociomedia Launched at Tokyo Camp, IxEdit is a JavaScript-based “interaction design” tool for web applications that can be used from within the browser. Web designers can use IxEdit to practice DOM-scripting without having to code anything. The tool allows for elements of web pages that require “interaction”, i.e. pull-down menus, to be created with basic knowledge about HTML and CSS (no JavaScript coding is required). IxEdit can be downloaded for free. View sample elements here . Mobile Vein Authentication Technology by Universal Robot [JP] Universal Robot’s compact mobile vein authentication software (40KB core module) can be installed on cell phones, for example, and uses the camera to scan your wrist vein for identification. The technology seems to have many advantages: It works fast (I tried it myself), it’s completely software-based, compatible to a variety of CPUs and operating systems, usable for persons doing hard manual labor (who can’t use fingerprints), and most importantly extremely accurate (the company speaks of a false accept ratio of 0.001% and of a false reject ratio of less than 0.1%). The award-winning software works even with cameras with a 1MP sensor or lower. Kuchikomi@Sousenkyo [JP] by Hottolink Tokyo-based Hottolink has shown a self-developed word-of-mouth analysis tool (dubbed “Word Of Mouth@General Election Of The Lower House” in Japanese) that’s supposedly able to predict the results of the general election of Japan’s Lower House (according to CEO Koki Uchiyama) that took place just today. The prediction tool analyzes what’s being written in Japan’s blogosphere about political topics dynamically (it updates its projected results daily). Uchiyama said internal tests with previous elections proved to be very promising. We’ll know if the prediction model really works on Monday morning Japanese time after the election results are official (I will deliver an update here later). LogEarth LogEarth requires a GPS logger or an iPhone GPS logger app to work. The service then records where you move around in the world (provided there’s a GPS signal) and visualizes your route with the help of Google Maps. The log data can be posted on blogs, too. The 3 Augmented Reality Brothers [JP] The 3 Augmented Reality Brothers aren’t really brothers, but their augmented reality project certainly had the highest show value at Tokyo Camp. Watch the Japanese video below to get an idea of what these guys are doing (their Vimeo channel is here ). | |
| Free the H-1Bs, Free the Economy | Top |
| This is a guest post by Vivek Wadhwa, an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Executive in Residence at Duke University. Follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa. I have a suggestion for our President on how to boost economic growth without spending a penny: Free the H-1B’s. More than a million doctors, engineers, scientists, researchers, and other skilled workers and their families in the U.S. are stuck in "immigration limbo.” They entered the country legally and have contributed disproportionately to our nation's competitiveness. They paid our high taxes and have been model citizens. All they want to do is to share the American dream and help us grow our economy. They could be starting companies, buying houses, building community centers, and splurging like Americans. But because we don't have enough permanent-resident visas (green cards) for them, they're stuck in the same old jobs they had maybe a decade ago when they entered this country. They are getting really frustrated and many are returning to their home countries to become unwilling competitors . And they are taking our economic recovery with them. Xenophobes will claim that immigrants take jobs away and blame them for everything that is wrong in their lives and in America. But as TechCrunch wrote last week, skilled immigrants create more jobs than they take away. That is a fact. My research team documented that one quarter of all technology and engineering startups nationwide from 1995 to 2005 were started by immigrants. In Boston, it was 31%, in New York, 44%, and in Silicon Valley an astonishing 52%. In 2005, these immigrant founded companies employed 450,000 workers. Add it up. That's far more than all the tech workers we gave green cards to in that period. It's not only jobs that they’ve created. In 2006, more than 25% of U.S. global patents had authors who were born abroad — and this doesn't even count people like me, who came here, became citizens, and then filed multiple patents. Of Qualcomm's global patents, 72% had foreign-born authors, as did 65% of Merck's, 64% of GE's, and 60% of Cisco's. I'm not talking about silly patents filed with the U.S. Patent Office here, I'm talking about WIPO PCT applications — the patents that help our companies compete globally. Why does Silicon Valley need a foreign-born workforce? Because these immigrants are able come to a foreign land where they face hardship and discrimination and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world's best technical minds and most successful entrepreneurs. They are able motivate Silicon Valley's top guns to work even harder and think smarter. They add a global perspective and enrich America. The largest immigrant founding groups are Indian, British, and Chinese. Indian-born immigrants, for example, founded 6.7% of America's tech companies and 15.5% of those in Silicon Valley — but, according to the U.S. census, constitute way less than 1% of the U.S. population. So do the Chinese, but they contribute to 16.8% of our global patents. It doesn't take a statistician to figure that these are pretty impressive numbers. Yes, I know that H-1B's don't start companies. And that is the problem. We don’t let them. Hundreds of thousands of mostly very smart and highly educated workers who could be starting companies are not. While they wait for their green cards, they can't even change jobs or accept a promotion, for fear of losing their turn in line. If they lose their job, they have to find another job within 30 days — or get booted out of the country. Their employers know that these workers aren't going anywhere, so they can go easy on the salary increases and bonuses. Some unscrupulous employers do take advantage of them. And their spouses usually can't work, and in some states can't even get drivers licenses, because they don't have social-security numbers. Does this sound like America? Unlike the daunting economic problems facing the country, this problem is easy to fix. Just increase the number of green cards for skilled workers. Maybe let them cut the line if they buy a house or start a company that employs a bunch of Americans. My guess is that we'll get tens of thousands of startups and a couple of hundred thousand houses sold. That is a bigger economic boost than the clunkers program we’ve just thrown $2 billion dollars at. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco | |
| The Countdown to TechCrunch50 is on! | Top |
| Our 50 companies are locked and loaded. We've got magic lined up, a power panel of experts and a big exhibitor hall DemoPit that will be filled with lots of start-up energy and chaos. TechCrunch50 celebrates entrepreneurship, and we want as many start-ups involved as possible. There is still time to participate in TechCrunch50 with prices that can't be beat: $2,995 DemoPit Tables include 2 tickets to TechCrunch50 and one day to demo (that's cheaper than 2 tickets to the conference) The DemoPit is open to start-ups who have not yet completed a Series A Round of $500k or more in financing and have just launched or would like to launch their start-up in conjunction with TechCrunch50. Demo for one day of the conference. We provide a 30" cocktail-height table, linens, tabletop sign, power and wireless internet access. Companies who launch at the conference are eligible for Audience Choice voting to be the last presentation slot of the day on stage at TechCrunch50. Else, all early-stage companies will get prime table-traffic access to the 1500+ expected attendees, including leading VCs, corporate buyers and biz dev executives, 200+ participating start-ups, 150+ credentialed press and other general attendees. Press list distributed one week in advance of TC50. TechCrunch will announce all DemoPit participants on Monday, September 14. (Optional: Companies who choose to launch at the conference will be listed in the conference press release.) BUY HERE , based on availability. $8,000 Exhibitor Tables include 4 tickets to TechCrunch50 and two days to demo (as cheap as 4 early-bird tickets to the conference) The exhibitor package enables early-stage companies to demo for a full two days of the conference and includes a 5' rectangular table, linens, tabletop sign, power and Ethernet-based internet access. Logo and 50-word business description on TechCrunch50.com and in printed program guide. One ticket to our Monday night VIP dinner, honoring our TC50 companies, experts and event partners. Press list distributed one week in advance of TC50. BUY HERE , based on availability. Hope to see you in just a few short weeks. Reminder, early bird ticket prices expire Monday, 8/31 at midnight pst. Buy now , last call. Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco | |
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